On My BES:
I had to upgrade to MSDE 2000a (I had an earlier version)
I had to upgrade to MDAC 2.8 (I had 2.7)
-First had to download the tool that tells you what MDAC you have.
I had to upgrade to BES SP3 at least (I had SP2)
Finally the upgrade to BES 4.0 itself!

Troubles:

- It took about 5 hours from start to finish and that does not include troubleshooting clients/handhelds. It took this long to start, troubleshoot, finish. Troubleshoot the database upgrade. Troubleshoot the service pack upgrade. Considering my small environment, this seemed too long.

-Upon completion, I had to re-import my users. I had exported them prior to the upgrade, so no big deal. I'm glad I backed them up.

-My 20-user license key did not make it thru the upgrade. Glad I had that written down so I could re-enter it. This was due to the MSDE upgrade and subsequent troubleshooting.

-None of my users could send an e-mail from their handheld when the upgrade to BES 4.0 completed. Here's why: The Service Book called "Desktop [CMIME]" kept the old UID from the previous 3.6 version. In spite of running RIMs "dbclean" &amp; generating a new encryption key at both the BES and the user's desktop, nothing would fix this. I ended up having to remove all users from the BES then add them all back as new entries. Blackberry (RIM) said "it may just be a bug the techs hadn't found or addressed yet."

Currently, I'm all up&amp;working. But, I was not too pleased with the rough-road travel through the upgrade process. What would have happened if I had a larger environment (more than 1 BES, more than 20 users, more than 1 mail server)

And that's my update. Feel free to ask me questions about it. Did I mention how much I dislike Nextel?

The entire process took 20 minutes or so. I don't think I left out anything. I'm not much of one for upgrading. If you have IT Policies in place, you can add in steps to export and import them at some point in there as well.

Just keep in mind that the only information you will lose by losing a 3.6 database is the License information and IT Policies. nothing more.

Hope that helps for any future upgrades.

__________________In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and is widely regarded as a bad move.

Here's a hint. If you are upgrading from 3.6 to 4.0, its just easier to drop the database and let 4.0 create a new one and start from there. ESPECIALLY if you are changing SRP Identifier.

Just keep in mind that the only information you will lose by losing a 3.6 database is the License information and IT Policies. nothing more.

In my case I have ~365 users on the 3.6SP2 production server. If I backup the database and then delete it(so 4.0 can create a new one), will all users be forced to re-cradle after the upgrade? The SRP will remain the same since I'm doing an in-place upgrade.

On My BES:
I had to upgrade to MSDE 2000a (I had an earlier version)
I had to upgrade to MDAC 2.8 (I had 2.7)
-First had to download the tool that tells you what MDAC you have.
I had to upgrade to BES SP3 at least (I had SP2)
Finally the upgrade to BES 4.0 itself!

Troubles:

- It took about 5 hours from start to finish and that does not include troubleshooting clients/handhelds. It took this long to start, troubleshoot, finish. Troubleshoot the database upgrade. Troubleshoot the service pack upgrade. Considering my small environment, this seemed too long.

-Upon completion, I had to re-import my users. I had exported them prior to the upgrade, so no big deal. I'm glad I backed them up.

-My 20-user license key did not make it thru the upgrade. Glad I had that written down so I could re-enter it. This was due to the MSDE upgrade and subsequent troubleshooting.

-None of my users could send an e-mail from their handheld when the upgrade to BES 4.0 completed. Here's why: The Service Book called "Desktop [CMIME]" kept the old UID from the previous 3.6 version. In spite of running RIMs "dbclean" &amp; generating a new encryption key at both the BES and the user's desktop, nothing would fix this. I ended up having to remove all users from the BES then add them all back as new entries. Blackberry (RIM) said "it may just be a bug the techs hadn't found or addressed yet."

Currently, I'm all up&amp;working. But, I was not too pleased with the rough-road travel through the upgrade process. What would have happened if I had a larger environment (more than 1 BES, more than 20 users, more than 1 mail server)

And that's my update. Feel free to ask me questions about it. Did I mention how much I dislike Nextel?

One of the most significant differences between BES 3.6 and 4.0 is how much information is stored in the user's mailboxes and the configuration database.

In the BES 3.6 solution the user's mailboxes store a large amount of data and the configuration database stores very little. This is why jibi's hint of "If you are upgrading from 3.6 to 4.0, its just easier to drop the database and let 4.0 create a new one and start from there" is so valid. BES 4.0 can construct the new configuration database from the information BES 3.6 placed in the user's mailboxes - this is the "user migration" stage of the BES 4.0 upgrade.

In the BES 4.0 solution the configuration database stores the majority of information and very little is stored in the user's mailboxes.

The reason for this is so that you can have multiple BES servers being maintained through a single configuration database.